We can generate new Word Documents or PDFs from Dynamics 365 or Power Apps.
However the default behavior of this functionality is either to download the newly generated file or save into the Notes of Dynamics.
DocDrive improves this functionality by offering the option to automatically save any generated documents or reports directly into the SharePoint Location for the Record.
This can improve Compliance as keeps each new Document in our Security Envelope and avoiding direct downloads – and keeps important documents from being lost in Notes.
The DocDrive Panel also enables this functionality to be accessed directly from the list of SharePoint Documents in Dynamics via the GENERATE button in the Panel.
This Generate and Save into SharePoint functionality can be enabled Entity by Entity within DocDrive.
If this is not Enabled – but we do have the DocDrive Panel in action – this can go a bit astray where we generate the Documents but this never shows in the Panel, giving us the appearance of:
To fix this – we need to enable the option in DocDrive to move new Note Attachments into SharePoint.
Fortunately this is quite quick and simple to do.
First off, we fire up the DocDrive App in Dynamics and look at our configuration:
This will open the DocDrive365 App and show areas for how we configure SharePoint to work alongside Dynamics.
In the App is an area for Entities – this gives the list of Dynamics Entities or Tables that are configured to integrate with SharePoint.
We can open the intended Entity Definition in question by double-clicking to drill down into the full screen:
In these Settings is the series of YES or NO options for Core Actions.
Scrolling down slightly will show a Setting for ‘Note Attachments to SharePoint’ – if we change this from NO to YES, this will then configure DocDrive to ‘scoop up’ any Files uploaded to Notes in Dynamics and place these in SharePoint.
Why does this matter? It is crucial when Dynamics generates a new Word or PDF Document through its native tools – as the default is for Dynamics to produce and save these files into the Notes attached for that Record. (as Dynamics does not natively integrate with SharePoint in this regard)
DocDrive takes these File Attachment Notes on Creation and instead saves the Files into SharePoint – but only if this Setting is set to YES to activate this functionality.
With this Setting set to YES, any Documents Generated by Dynamics (either from our DocDrive Panel or the Command Bar Buttons in Dynamics) for this Entity/Table will be automatically saved into SharePoint instead of sitting in the Notes area of Dynamics.
This can often be a better way as brings the generated documented into our structured DMS System between Dynamics and SharePoint.
This also works great with the Dynamics for Sales functionality to Export into PDF for a Word Template – more information on which can be found here: Dynamics for Sales: Use Word Templates to Export directly to PDF